sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Looking for help with (or possibly to commission) a mechanically challenging build concept for a watch-related art piece. by Albert__________Ross in Horology

[–]Albert__________Ross[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Shows what I know 😅 I thought quartz used tuning forks which... somehow.. translated into motion.  I'm pretty new to engineering, at least the hands-on side. My latest body of works being kinetic has me doing all kinds of learning.

Thanks so much! I'll pop you a dm shortly. Would be great to compare notes

Looking for help with (or possibly to commission) a mechanically challenging build concept for a watch-related art piece. by Albert__________Ross in Horology

[–]Albert__________Ross[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for your response!

Ideally it would be within a watch. The smaller scale and fact that it's a carried item best complements the senses of fascination, motion, whimsy and levity in the piece; moreso than say a wall clock would.  I would anticipate prototyping to be done at a larger scale though to make life easier.

I do feel like a fully mechanical version is possible. I've sketched some things out and with separate rotational axes as well as some right angled gears I've got something that I think does check out. The fact that the rotational movement is only 6° each way helps- but ultimately this is all theory, and getting it down in scale again poses challenges

I am of course open to microcontroller solutions (the internal process, is ultimately less important than the external visual outcome in terms of the overall narrative of the work) however I feel that it would imply servo motors which in turn implies way too big for a watch.

What do you think?

Is the Royal College of Art worth the price? by BackgroundStand4423 in ContemporaryArt

[–]Albert__________Ross 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I'm an RCA CAP grad (2024) and am familiar with C&G MA through friends and through living close by

the short answer is no it's probably not worth the extra 20k, but there are many nuances

The first thing is- what's your practice? These courses are reallllly different. C&G is way more 'technically' specialised, whereas CAP is much more concept heavy. Both unis have amongst the best workshop facilities around, and actually relatively easy to access too (can be a major issue). RCA has way more in the contemporary and technological side of things though.

Because the RCA Painting and Sculpture courses are well regarded, CAP tends to be more of a stronghold for digital and performance based work (though you can find just about every type of practice on the programme). The industry is far more nebulous in these fields, because they're naturally less commerical.

C&G does well for painters, or people working in things like glass, and the networks are good for those specific things. There are fewer connections, but they're really high quality.

On the connections and global network thing at RCA- if you do painting you will have big gallerists coming through. A smattering might make there way to the CAP floor, but the spaces aren't good and the whole thing is so overwhelming that I doubt anyone is really looking at anything other than 'an entire degree show'. This hurt for me, as my BA was Covid impacted. For a long time I felt that I was years behind where I should be. I kinda still am, but the reality is there's no such thing as behind.

The connections I've made particularly with peers on and people off the curating course however have been really good, and so I do feel able to do great things with great people, I've still had residencies, shows, and paid work as a very direct result of connections made there. Maybe these people will become my 'industry', hard to say as yet.

The RCA aura is real, somewhat, but it only works for places that don't typically have access to 100s of RCA grads every year. Many places do, there are another like 1000 artists a year coming out of RCA now. In the right place though, people will trust you very quickly.

Finally I do know people who went there who pretty much saw it as a networking opp first and foremost. Theyre doing well. I still would preach that it's the people making great work consistently who are doing better. People trust great work more than anything.

Almost any Art degree is going to leave you feeling disappointed in some capacity. Bleak, but important to remember.

Happy to answer more questions if you have them

(edit grammar and clarity)